Multifactorial diversity sustains microbial community stability.
ISME J, 2013/11;7(11):2126-36.
Erkus O[1], de Jager VC, Spus M, van Alen-Boerrigter IJ, van Rijswijck IM, Hazelwood L, Janssen PW, van Hijum SA, Kleerebezem M, Smid EJ
Affiliations
PMID: 23823494DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2013.108
Impact factor: 11.217
Abstract
Maintenance of a high degree of biodiversity in homogeneous environments is poorly understood. A complex cheese starter culture with a long history of use was characterized as a model system to study simple microbial communities. Eight distinct genetic lineages were identified, encompassing two species: Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. The genetic lineages were found to be collections of strains with variable plasmid content and phage sensitivities. Kill-the-winner hypothesis explaining the suppression of the fittest strains by density-dependent phage predation was operational at the strain level. This prevents the eradication of entire genetic lineages from the community during propagation regimes (back-slopping), stabilizing the genetic heterogeneity in the starter culture against environmental uncertainty.
MeSH terms
Bacteriophages; Cheese; Food Microbiology; Genetic Variation; Genome, Bacterial; Lactococcus lactis; Leuconostoc; Plasmids; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
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